Creative Conversations (formerly Clambake) is a bi-monthly social gathering for designers and those interested in design and creatives. The event features two speakers – designers of different disciplines delivering a 15-minute presentation with a Q&A following. 

Who attends: Designers, creatives, students/ educators, and curious and engaged community members.

Impact: Over 400 people attend this event a year in total from a wide range of backgrounds and interests.

Results: The discussions combine design fields that wouldn’t normally be in discussion together. The event creates a conversation between the work and has the audience create connections between designers and their different processes. 

Outcomes: This event is meant for networking, making new connections, and learning about what RI designers are doing that’s new and innovative. 

Deadline (rolling for non-exclusive)

February 15, 2023, for Exclusive Sponsorships for the entire series.

Design Challenge is a three-month training program that activates designers to explore the tools of the Strategic Design Process through an intensive workshop series. Groups of four designers apply the learnings towards a real-world project with a nonprofit or small business community partner. This Program focuses on participants, team facilitators, and community partners who self-identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC).

Who attends: 16 emerging BIPOC Designers from RI, four BIPOC nonprofits or small businesses, four facilitators, and four instructors.

Results: Emerging Designers learn key skills in working with clients, design problem solving, collaborating and building a real-life resume piece.

Outcomes: Both emerging designers and nonprofits/ small business partners are paid for their time on the project. A real-life design challenge is solved and the community partners receive a final design product or steps to a final product.

Deadline: April 1, 2023

DESIGN WEEK RI (DWRI) is an five-day, highly curated event showcasing the innovation and economic impact of the design sector in Rhode Island. This includes 2500 attendees and over 40 events. This means that your investment in sponsorship dollars will go so much further than just a one-day event. September 19-23, 2023.

Who attends: Designers, creatives, students/ educators, and the curious and engaged community members.

Impact: 2500 attendees experience connection with other designers and creatives that in the past have led to new collaborations, new hires, and essential feedback.

Results: DWRI fosters and supports the creative and design communities statewide in Rhode Island.

Outcomes: 100 business partners receive new exposure and potential clients, and 2500 attendees see the scope of creative design talent in Rhode Island and gain connections, skills, knowledge, and understanding of what our state has to offer.

• Brand access to thousands of design enthusiasts in the region
• Year-round sponsorship recognition
• Partnership on sponsor-specific events
• Prominent display of logo at events, online and in print
• Dedicated social media posts (~15,000 followers)
• Inclusion in multiple email blasts (~5300 subscribers)
• Opportunities range from $500 – $25,000

Deadline: July 15, 2023

We will be celebrating our 10th Anniversary on September 23, 2023.  This is the event of the year to sponsor exclusive benefits and recognition.  This event will be a retrospective of design from the past decade. Stay tuned for details. 

Who attends: Designers, creatives, students/ educators, RI state leadership, and the curious and engaged community members.

Impact: We get to celebrate 10 years of DESIGNxRI bringing design and creative communities together. 

Results: Attendees feel the connectedness of our thriving community and the economic driver that exists within it.

Outcomes: New connections, celebrating past accomplishments, and looking forward to the next ten years.

Deadline: July 15, 2023

Equity x Design RI Cohort is a multi-month program created to lead designers, design businesses, and those who participate in the design economy to understand and build Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion processes in their work. Mobilizing an educational arc by Creative Reaction Lab, the cohort will empower current and upcoming industry leaders to practice design with consideration of equity. This Program will culminate with an event at the 10th annual DESIGN WEEK RI, where we ask participants to showcase tangible processes or initiatives they have developed and implemented throughout the Program.

Who attends: Members of creative and design firms and businesses

Impact: Up to ten businesses can participate, learning about DEI and how to incorporate it into their daily practices.

Results: Each business presents a real-life project during Design Week RI 2023

Outcomes: Businesses gain an understanding of historically harmful practices that have been upheld by the design industry and how they can help to move the needle by incorporating DEI into their practices. 

Deadline: March 1, 2023